Week 29 - WTA Premier ($740K) - Carlsbad, CA, USA - Hard

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

RE: Week 29 - WTA Premier ($740K) - Carlsbad, CA, USA - Hard

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Drat !!! 2 -5*

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

Opportunity missed. 7-6(2) to Chan

philwrig · Hall of fame

Maybe a blessing in disguise, her ranking would have jumped considerably and possibly would have put her ahead of where her game actually is at the moment. Good chance to rest now, only playing dubs at Olympics and a chance to recharge the batteries.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Certainly a disappointing result, a rare off day for Heather

It certainly had all the hallmarks of a scrappy match from following the scores so maybe it was for the best there wasn't a stream of the match.

Jan · Hall of fame

Bad day at the office for Hev.
Back to the grass!

PaulM · Tennis legend

She'll never get an easier draw in a premier. Bad loss.

philwrig · Hall of fame

PaulM wrote:
She'll never get an easier draw in a premier. Bad loss.

I take what you mean, but its also nice to earn it by beating a top 20 which you would have to do in normal circumstances. Accumulating cheap points is only good in the short term, and would mean next year that she had to defend them when she hadn't really earnt them. For Hev its about building slowly and developing a good base, she doesn't want to go up and down the rankings.

So yes looking at it in isolation a bad loss, but IMO looking at the full picture not a big setback.

Maza1987 · Challenger level

oh well. Still in the dubs.

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Heathers doubles is the last match of the day on the main court. Second in the evening session, which starts at 05:00 UK time.

So probably on court about 06:30 Friday morning. Which at least gives her the longest possible rest since her 3 matches in 24 hours previously.

Chang/Lertcheewakarn vs. Husarova/Watson

-- Edited by insomniacfolder on Thursday 19th of July 2012 12:45:30 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

philwrig wrote:
PaulM wrote:
She'll never get an easier draw in a premier. Bad loss.
I take what you mean, but its also nice to earn it by beating a top 20 which you would have to do in normal circumstances. Accumulating cheap points is only good in the short term, and would mean next year that she had to defend them when she hadn't really earnt them. For Hev its about building slowly and developing a good base, she doesn't want to go up and down the rankings.
So yes looking at it in isolation a bad loss, but IMO looking at the full picture not a big setback.

Must say I'm rather more in the camp of you want to get all the points you can when you can so in that way it is a pretty frustrating loss.

Her ranking at any time is based on her previous 52 weeks so the fact that she might have had more this year, and hence more to "defend" has ( all things being equal from now ) no effect on her ranking next year. Yes, she would be defending more, but only to drop from a slightly higher ranking to the same place.

In practice, more ranking points now actually is likely to help improve her ranking for the future in helping her with entries ( potentially getting her into some higher class tournaments which can help her development ) and within some lower class tournaments getting her better seedings, so within tournaments improving her draws and earning more points. Basically more points now can help earn more for the future.

I see no good side ( short or long term rankingwise ) in losing this match to a much lower ranked player and not earning at least a further 60 points now. To my mind, the win had to be better.

All that said, I'm not too bothered really given Heather has consistently been playing to a good level and she doesn't generally throw in many real off days, so if that was what this was, I'll let her off smile

By the way, I see that Heather is currently ranked 60 on the race ( i.e. even before this week ) and has earned 750 ranking points this year, i.e. nearly as much as Anne and Bally together ( 440 + 323 = 763 ) and that was even with a relatively slow start to this year. So her ranking is more likely than not going to be rising anyway, particularly if she can win matches at the US and /or Aussie Open.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 19th of July 2012 07:02:06 PM

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Break recovered, *3-3

And lost again immediately, 3-4*

And that's enough for the set to disappear 4-6.

Husarova/Watson are struggling on serve, facing break points in every service game in the set.

Their opponents are ranked 172/149, compared to 58/81, so this is a bit disappointing.

-- Edited by insomniacfolder on Friday 20th of July 2012 05:23:00 AM

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Bad start to the decider, 0-3

Mini-break a piece, 3-3

Oh no! 3-5 3-6 3-7 3-8

The comeback, 4-8 5-8 6-8 7-8 8-8

Ack! Decisive mini-break at 8-8 against them, and the match goes 8-10 in the breaker.

They seemed to have all the momentum going in to the breaker after a strong set but the breaker proved close.

Decent performance overall, but still an unexpected and slightly deflating loss, 4-6 6-2 8-10

-- Edited by insomniacfolder on Friday 20th of July 2012 06:03:09 AM

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Husarova/Watson broken in the third game of the match, 1-2*

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

A hold to 15 to start the second set, then had 40-0* in the next game, but couldn't take any of the 4 break points (No Ad rules), *1-1

4 more break poiints at 2-1*, and they take the first of them, *3-1

3 more BP's at 4-1, but they all go begging, *4-2

Husarova/Watson take the first of three set points to level the match, 6-2

Complete reversal of the first set, as they romped through it without facing a break point on their serve, and having lots of break points.

Breaker!